Part from a Whole
by MasN2
Summary: One to run, knowing future takes from past. One to seek, knowing past takes from present. One to guide, knowing present takes from future. So care not whomever, be at end or at start; none can put together all that's broken apart. PMD inspired. Reviews much appreciated.
1. Prologue: Reason to Eliminate

\- B0 - Prologue

 **Prologue: Reason / / Eliminate**

 _I seek only three things: creativity, consistency, and elegance. It is for elegance that I simplify. It is for elegance that I eliminate. And it is for elegance that I destroy._

* * *

A million blades of flowing grass rested on the ground, and each casted their tiny shadow in the sunless night.

But for every shadow, there is a light. Here, there were two: the tail-flame of a Charizard flying overhead, and that of the silent and young Charmander mounted atop her.

These twin lights, small as they were, were a beacon which cut through the darkness for miles, and guided all pokemon in the area towards it. This was unfortunate for the duo.

Like Venomoths to a Lanturn, an army of Scyther and Mightyena quickly converged to the location of the pair.

The perceptive Charizard suddenly swerved downwards.

"Waah! Mama!"

"It's as I feared," replied the Charizard, "they've found us too soon," as the sudden swerve sent them crashing to the ground. Although surrounded, they had a bit of free space to their right, for the time being. Only the pursuers on their left side had caught up by then.

One Scyther stepped forward, his slightly smaller than his companions. His eyes gleamed with malice and his voice spoke with confidence: "You are surrounded. There is no escape. Surrender now."

The Charizard turned to face them. She roared, "So you can execute us, like all of the others? Never!"

"So be it. This is a battle you can't win." The Scyther made a leap towards then, and with but a gesture, cued the others to do the same.

The Charizard moved to meet them, and tossed the pouch she has been carrying to the Charmander. "I'll hold them off. You must escape."

"Mom!"

The Charizard breathed a cone of fire at the Bug-types, and dodged a blade aimed at her direction. The reinforcing Mightyena had caught up by now, so she slammed into one of them, leaving here vulnerable to be hit by another blade. Then a fang into her tail. Mother and daughter yelped in unison.

"Flare! Stop watching! Leave! Save yo- ah!" The speech had a cost. She was not breathing fire, her best means of defense.

The Charmander quickly tooks a green orb from the pouch while watching the fight. It didn't last much longer. One blade sliced the Charizard belly and draws blood. "Flare, you are strong." Another hit a wing. "Resourceful." More blood. "You will make it." Then another blade, slitting her throat. She managed to cough out one final word: "s-survive."

While the others basked in the glory of their kill, the smaller Scyther wasted no time. He dashed at Flare, who squeezed the orb with her tiny paw. The Charmander was bathed in a brilliant green light. And then was gone.

Thirty miles away, a Charmander appeared, holding a pouch containing one orb less than a minute ago. Her tail-flame was the only light on the dark road. "I-I," she stuttered out, "I'm an orphan now."

"W-which way do I go now?" There was a compass in her bag. "I think this .. t-that way is west?"

"Mom. I won't forget you. Repolis. I'll be safe." And so, the lonely light in darkness made its way west.

* * *

 **Flare**

 _Running. It seems like that's what I've been doing my whole life. I'm in Repolis now. City of freedom. City of safety. City of rest. A place where I can settle down and live my life like any Pokemon has and deserves to have. Or that's what I thought._

 _They're after me still. I can't shake the feeling. I trust my instinct. I trust my fire. I trust my flare._

 _Flare. That's what my parents named me. A fierce flame, to light the world. I look at my tail. Not a flare. More like a candle. My fire is weak. I am weak._

 _My parents gave up their lives so that I could get this far. I am not safe here. I must head further west. I must survive. For them._

* * *

 **Four hours later**

"Commander Phaz," stated a Scyther, "Repolis is yours." Repolis was aflame, but that didn't matter. Collateral damage was not as much an issue as time. The commander had commanded to take the city by any means, and not to let anyone escape - especially not a Charmander. They succeeded in that task beautifully.

"Not mine, the empire's," replied the smaller Scyther. "Did you find the Charmander?"

"Negative. Are you sure that he came here?"

"Likely. But I'll find out myself. Come with me to the city."

Commander Phaz and his escort flew gracefully to the city, their sharpened blades cutting through the air. The first pokemon Phaz saw is a Machop, and immediately placed on of his arm-blades against its throat. "Did you see a Charmander?" "N-no, si-" _VZZT_ The blade sliced clean through the Machop's neck. "Useless."

He flew to another part of the city, and tried again, this time on a Fearow. "Did you see a Charmander?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Where?"

"It left, sir."

"When, and which way did it go?"

"F-five hours ago, and through the west gate."

Phaz executed it anyways. "That's all the useful information I'm going to get," he ordered to the soldiers, "put the city to the blade." His soldiers obeyed.

The time when the execution is concluded and the time when the commander back at his seat was the time when the first rays of sunlight shone upon the scorched city. A lone Scyther walked into the Phaz's office and ventured, "Commander, my apologies. If I may intrude to ask so-"

"Speak freely," interrupted the small Scyther.

"Why is it we take a city just for one Charmander? Is there something he has?"

"Not something tangible." Phaz paused for a moment, then stated, "Information."


	2. Chapter 0: Place to Start

\- ARC I: Breaking Away - F1

 **Chapter 0: Place / / Start**

 _Welcome! You are about t-_

Wait. Who are you? Where are we?

 _I am all the vastness of the cosmos, yet no more than the tiniest shard of your mind._

(Huh?)

 _You don't understand. No matter. Who am I matters not. What matters is who -you- are. I will ask you several questions. Don't think. Just answer._

 _Life is more than the present. It is also the future. Tell me, how much planning do you do?_

I spend so much time thinking on everything, yet it seems I that I get so little planning done. I don't even know what I'll be in a few years. The world.. it's just so complex, and so unpredictable. Heck, I changed my plans for tomorrow, because of something I found out today. If I can't even plan for two days, what business do I have planning for years? I just do what feels right, and deal with problems as they arise, I guess.

 _Would you say the world is ever hard on you?_

Sometimes it feels like always. There's time that I enjoy, but it's an escape from reality. There's always inconveniences, major and minor. And it chips away at me.

 _But have you've never given up, have you?_

Never. My few friends sometimes worry I have. And maybe I project that image. But everything is a way to learn, and nothing does lasting damage. At least not yet, while I'm so young. So I might not act that way, but it's always in me to move on.

 _Do you see the world as perfect as it always is, or flawed and trying to fix it?_

Flawed. Flawed in so many ways. There's many examples, but I know you don't need them. I'm just not fixing any of them. Such big problems. It seems impossible.

 _What's something you do better than others?_

I see connections. I see possibility. I see logic without even trying that people spend hours studying just trying to do. I can see a solution where most people don't, just because I can think outside the box. The box that most people don't realize they were in. I'm talented, and I consider myself so fortunate for that.

 _Be careful. Are you aware that most people overestimate their intelligence?_

Yes. Very aware. I know a lot about psychology, for the longest time. I know all the biases I'd be inclined to make, and consciously adjust for them. It's become semi-conscious at this point. And I've taken some tests to see how well I did. I'm not sure of anything, but I'm pretty confident I'm fine.

 _It's not your failure in planning. It's that you recognize how vast the world is. And knowing all these possibilities, you leave yourself fluid in the face of them._

 _The flame that drives you might not shine as bright as others. It doesn't need to. You don't care what others think. All that matters is that you move on, slowly, unceasing. You don't let anything stop you._

 _As such, you have few friends. You're lonely a lot. But that doesn't matter. And even if the world is darkness and you think you're not doing much to change it, you are. You are collecting knowledge every day and sharing it. You may not see it, but the impact you have on others is profound._

 _You're bright. That you find a solution is a sign of how unpredictable your approach is. Like a spark. Lightning seems to move randomly, but there's an order behind. Just like how there's an order behind your approach._

 _The mind is a curious thing. How do we study the flaws of an object that we are bound by the flaws of? Most don't. It makes them easy to manipulate. Easy to exploit. But somehow, you don't. By being aware of it, you're not vulnerable. You're fine._

 _Now let me see the color of your soul._

 _.._

 _Your soul.. It has no color._ _ **Colorless.**_

 **What?**

 _You don't believe in souls, do you?_

A soul is a concept to house all the traits of human that we do not ascribe to biology. Conscience, for example. So a soul could exist as a concept, but not on a level interactable with. Because it's not as much an object as a loose set to contain objects. Just as a void is no more than a loose set to fit all we do not consider material. But I don't understand. Why does my belief on whether souls exist affect what color it is, given that it does?

 _You do not believe in a soul as an object. Thus, it cannot have the type of attributes objects have. Color, for example._

 _Do not worry. Like a piece of glass, a colorless soul will let any color through, yet will distort them in a way to give off a color of its own._

 _Now, to decide from this what pokemon you will be._

Wait. Pokemon?

 _As I was saying before you interrupted, you will become a pokemon. Any objections? You don't exactly get a say in the matter._

Oh.

 _As vast and fluid as the waves._

 _Driven by unceasing flame._

 _A lonely light to break the dark._

 _Bright and erratic, like a spark._

 _And as for matters of the mind.._

 _..while others falter, you do fine._

 _Your soul allows all colors be.._

 _Your form is clear. You are_ _ **Eevee.**_

Evidently a reference to the first five eeveelutions. But Eevee can only choose one of them. Does that mean I have to cut myself off from the other parts of me?

 _Worry not. You will be able to choose all of them._

Huh? How?

 _You will find out in due time._

 _Where your soul is both colorless and lets every color through, yet still gives a color of its own._

 _Where both the past determines the future_ (Duh.) _and the present determines the past,_ (True.) _yet future determines the present._ (What?)

 _Where I am both just a fleeting thought and the entirely of space, yet all I determine is you._ (I still don't get it.)

 _Where both you are confined to one eeveelution, and are free to choose all of them, yet in order to do so you must always be at none._ (This doesn't make any sense.)

 _Where a single photon passes through both one slit and the other, yet in doing so interferes with itself._ (I still don't "get" quantum. Oh.)

Oh.

 _You understand now._

All these statements you just gave.. they are contradictions, yet they also carry truth.

 _Then make use of them. I'd wish you good luck.._

But I will have both the best luck possible and the worst, yet also everything in between.

 _Excellent. One final complication. When next you wake, know that you will have no memory of these past ninety minutes._

Wait! I didn't agree to this! How am I even supposed to use them if I don't even remember? Wait a minute.. ninety min-

 _Pleasant dreams.._


	3. Chapter 1: Paths to Meet

\- ARC I: Breaking Away - F1

 **Chapter 1: Paths / / Meet**

 _A world without war, without conflict, without suffering. You would not be the first to dream of it. But consider carefully the implications and answer: is that really what you want?_

* * *

My head was aching, and I was lying on rough ground. _Ugh._ I must have stayed up too late yesterday. That's the only way I'd fall asleep outside of my bed.

 _Just.. one.. more.. minute.._

 _No. I'm going to get up now. If I keep lying down, I'm just going to stay up late again. I know this. And I'm going to break the cycle. For today, at least._

I pulled myself up to see a field of yellow grass, seeming to go on forever. The only features of the landscape were two gravelly roads. As well as myself, lying at their intersection.

 _Where are the buildings? Where is my home? Wh-where am I?_

 _Wait, this is definitely a dream. Great, that means I'm lucid! That's step one. Step two: Quickly, stabilize the dream. Focus on the details._ I took a look at the field of grass surrounding me. It was evidently in a dying season, with crisp blades, crisper than my eyesight in real life. It didn't take me long to find the sun in front of me, illuminating the world to every horizon. Finally, I looked down at the road, admiring the varying sizes of pebbles which dot the road. _More details than any of my other dreams so far. Excellent._

 _Step three: Control the dream. What do I want to do? Fly, I guess. Explore this world of my subconscious. Okay, will myself upwards. Nope. Keep trying.. Nope._ I've never gotten past this step before. I've flown before, but never out of my own will.

That's when I remembered a potentially useful guide that I've read not too long ago. _So apparently what I'm supposed to do is focus on the thing I want to change. In this case, me. Easier to change me than the air, probably. Now, truly -believe- that by willing myself to fly, I can fly. And try again._

 _ **I can do it! I can see how the ground would look from here! All I have to do is distort the ground, then that's how it would look like from the air. Imagine seeing that, and let my subconscious do the rest. Now put my legs up, because I don't need them. Trace this path through the air. I can do it! I can do it! I can do it!**_ _.. ..I can't._

 _Okay, this is fine. I probably only have two or so more tries until I wake up. If I fail, I fail. There's always tomorrow. Though it's probably going to take two weeks until my next lucid dream. It's fine, I should have several more decades of life._

 _Let's try again._

 _ **Close my eyes. Now imagine myself going through the air. I can feel the air flowing over me! Now make this mental image of what the ground is going to look like when I open them. Open my eyes and..**_ _I'm on the ground again._

That reminded me of the dream I had where I was lucid and couldn't even move. That sucked. I hoped that wouldn't happen again here, so I tried walking. On my- _four legs?_

 _Um.. What am I?_

That's when I wished for water, so that I could look at my reflection. I didn't see any water, so I looked down, towards myself. I saw brown fur, and a white collar. I looked back and noticed I had a bushy tail.

 _Hmm.._

 _.._

"Well, it has to be something that I can imagine," I thought aloud. It took a moment before I realized. "Oh, right, the sun. I have a shadow." I turned back and took a look at it.

 _..and looks like I'm an.. Eevee?_ "Well, that's new." I'd miss having hands, but I decided to take a look around, on the hopes of meeting someone. Or that I'd at least see something before waking up.

Every step I took shifted the scenery, but the road seemed endless and abandoned. The road here seemed indistinguishable from the road there, except that I was getting increasingly distant from the intersection. "At least this is a dream," I commented. I'd be getting pretty thirsty right now otherwise, and with no water in sight.

In any case, it looked like I somehow haven't woken up yet, but my subconscious wasn't giving me anything.

 _Boring. I guess I might as well lie down on the soft grass and wait to wake up._

 _.._

 _.._

 _Hmm.. can't sleep. This might be the first time I hit this problem. Soon.._

 _.._

 _.._

"Maybe this somehow isn't a dream?" I thought for a bit. "TEST. Testing, testing, one two three." _Maybe I should pinch my- oh, right._

I lazily brought one of my front legs to my mouth and bit on it. The pain made me quickly let go, leaving a red stain on my leg. "Ow. I guess Eevee teeth are sharp.

"Okay, let's see. There's two possibilities, each equally implausible. Either this is an unusually vivid and persistent dream, or this is my new reality," I stated, "Or the more likely possibility: this is reality, but I've gone insane.

"Actually.. if I've gone insane, then I've probably actually bitten my arm, and maybe there's a doctor watching over me, and that doctor would manifest in this hallucination..

"In any case, if this is a dream, nothing I do really matters. Same if I've gone insane, really. But, if this is my new reality, things are at stake. Wounding myself from the beginning was probably not a good start, but finding this information was. I guess first order of business is to find water." _Always water. Every time!_ I looked at the bite-mark. _Okay, maybe 'wound' is overstating it._

"Where am I supposed to do that?" I started walking back towards the crossroads. I looked at the four directions available. The roads seemed the same in each direction, until I noticed that the horizon looked a bit shorter in one direction. I started taking steps in that direction, and a pond of shimmering water came into view. My reflection confirmed that I was an Eevee. "Convenient," I stated, "Too convenient. So here's what going to happen. I'm going take a drink, the water is going to turn out to be polluted, and I'm going to die. Not like I have a better option."

 _Well, maybe.. If this pool of water hid itself from me so easily, maybe there's another one lying around. But then how would I know which one is safe to drink? I guess I'm not thirsty yet, so I can wait a bit? I'd be pretty thirsty after all this walking as a human. Maybe it comes with being an Eevee?_

Since I think better out loud, I verbally took inventory of the situation. "Okay, first question. How did I get here? No clue. What do I last remember doing? Homework, then replaying Pokemon Heartgold. Then.. it's like there a giant hole in my memories. Do I at least remember my name? Yes. I'm Kani.

"Let's try again. How did I get here? Again, no clue. How -could- I have gotten here? Well, if I'm a Pokemon, it sounds like one of these mystery dungeon games. But I don't see my partner. And VR technology shouldn't have gotten to this point yet. So unless I'm willing to believe that Nintendo made a new mystery dungeon games -er, Spike Chunsoft, VR technology has somehow advanced to this level, and then my memories were wiped..

"Come to think of it, that might be a possibility. They said there'd be a singularity in fifty years, so that definitely means that we could have gotten to this level. And since my memories were wiped and my body is new, I wouldn't know how much time has passed. In that case.. maybe what I do doesn't matter? But what if there's an evil AI and me dying here makes me die in real life? Ugh.

"Then there's the other possibility. Magic. Now I don't believe in magic, but I just proposed an explanation with sufficiently advanced technology, and any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

This didn't help much, so I just followed the paths and looked for other sources of water. This world I found myself turned out to be more than an endless field. I caught a glimpse of a distant forest, and what appeared to be a tower far off in the distance. But none of these were another source of water, and I was starting to get thirsty. Faced with no other option, I walked back and took a drink.

The water was cool and flavorless on my lips, just the way I liked my water. I took one sip, then another. "So that doesn't mean I could be dying right now. But it's probably safe to assume if the water is poisoned, I'll probably end up dying anyways, so I should just treat this water as safe to drink.

"Time to consider my options again. I have time, so might as well.

"First consideration. In the games, Pokemon tend to get stronger by battling. But I have nobody to battle, and I'm not sure if it's true here. Unless I count the time I bit my leg." _Apparently I forgot about hurting my own leg._ I took a look at my leg, and it seems to have healed. "So I guess regeneration comes with being an Eevee? I guess I'll keep that in mind.

"So my options here. I can either stay here until somebody finds me. It's an intersection, so someone's probably going to get here eventually. In that case, either it's friendly or unfriendly, and if it's unfriendly, I'm probably screwed.

"Or I can follow some road to somewhere, and find someone either friendly or unfriendly. Or I can die to dehydration. That seems like worse odds."

A grumble from my belly interrupted my thoughts. "Okay, I'm not that hungry right now, but if I stay here, I'm eventually going to die of starvation. That changes the math.

"So I either have to find some food source.. perhaps the forest has berries? Or I have to follow a road and hope I get lucky.

"I guess I'll check in a bit. If not.. I guess I'd have to take the road. I'd feel safer if there was a way to take this water with me. And if I meet someone, am I supposed to say that I'm a human? Only if I'm desperate, probably. I'll consider it then."

I flattened out a nice bed of grass adjacent to the lake, and lied down a bit, hoping to clear my head. It might have been too comfortable. Because there I was, in my first hour of this world. And when I should have been doing something productive, I instead fell asleep.

* * *

A shake of my back woke me up. "One minute," I mumbled. I turned up and saw a Charmander looking at me. "A Charmander?" I said, surprised by the sight, "Aren't pokem- Oh, right. I'm an Eevee now."

She (I assumed her to be female) gave me this confused look and asked, "You're an Eevee _now_?"

 _Let's see,_ I thought, _One, other pokemon exist and are accessible. Two, I don't have to worry about a language barrier. Hopefully this one is friendly._ "Yes," I lied. "I'm an Eevee now. Always been."

"Then why'd you say that?"

I struggled to think of a reply, and it showed with a pause. I settled on "I said I'm an Eevee now. Why couldn't I have always been one?"

I could have sworn that I saw the Charmander give the faintest of smiles, as it put a claw on what appeared to be a bag. "You don't talk like one. What are you?"

I looked at my body again, pointing to each of my details as I said, "Eevee fur, Eevee paws, Eevee tail. Want me to say I'm a Magikarp?"

"No. What were you? Don't lie." I think I saw her flame get the slightest bit brighter.

"Fine. Human," I said, "Does that mean anything to you?"

The Charmander was visibly excited. "I knew! One day my instincts will be as good as mama's was."

Did humans exist in this world? A bunch of possibilities raced in my head. _As trainers? No, I doubt pokemon would be happy that way._ I decided to ask. "Excuse me. If I may ask, what does the word 'human' mean to pokemon?" I started getting up from my sleeping position.

The Charmander didn't seem to mind. "Nobody else knows. But today I meet a human!"

"What's so exciting about humans?" I asked.

The Charmander opened his bag, and took out a scroll, and unrolled the top of it. "Do you read?" she asked.

I take a glance at it. It seemed to be a story of a Bulbasaur and a Cyndaquil. But before I read much, the Charmander returned the scroll to the bag. "Read it later. Bulba here is human, and save the world by getting Rayquaza to shoot down a meteor!"

"I think I know this story. So, after they save the world, this 'Bulba' has to go back to the human world. But because they wish so hard, they're allowed to stay here." The Charmander nods. "Then with his or her job done, the Cyndaquil goes to Bulba's 'Friend Area' and never says anything of significance to our Bulba ever again."

"No, that sounds stupid!"

"Okay, maybe I don't know this story. Hmm.. How long ago did this happen?"

"Long ago. Very long. At least two zeros of years!"

I would have to save the math lesson for later. "Then why do you say no one else knows?"

"This story is secret."

"Then how do you know if it's even true?"

"I know."

"How?"

"I just know." Her tail was definitely getting brighter, and likely hotter.

"Okay," I said, "Say you're right. Do you believe that I'm human?"

"Why not?"

"And do you think I have to save the world from another meteor? Is time stopping? Are the uniques turning into statues?" (Uniques are my term for the one-of-a-kind legendaries. I figured the existence of Rayquaza implied the others. It's surprising that the Charmander understood, but I didn't think much of it at the time.)

"The world won't die. I might. The Imperium killed my mom this week, and now they're after me. And a bunch of others too! Those that don't starve where food is scarce."

"After you? Why? Tell me more about them."

"These scrolls," the Charmander pointed, "My mom says it better than me. Here's her words: 'These are our family treasures. It started with my great grandmother. She passed it to my grandmother, who passed it my mother, and who passed it to me. And when my day comes, you'll be the one with them. Keep them safe. One day, a human will be the one to save our dying world, and we must be ready for them. But keep them secret. Should _they_ find out, they'll surely murder every human as they arrive, alone and weak and vulnerable.' But they found out anyways. They didn't want anyone else to know. So they sent their Scyther at our home, and-"

That was when I noticed a group of green bugs with bladed arms approaching from the distance. "Wait," I interrupted, pointing. "Did 'their Scyther' happen to look like these?"

The Charmander turned around. I saw her tail-flame start blazing. I knew the danger before I heard her yell "Run!"


	4. Chapter 2: Flee to the Unknown

\- ARC I: Breaking Away - F1

 **Chapter 2: Flee / / the Unknown**

 _I know of one who decided 'No', and fractured self for that. One part of him to oversee, as rest of him would suffer._

* * *

I did not need to be told twice. The moment I heard the Charmander's words, I was on my feet and running away as fast as my four legs could carry me.

The experience was strange. Serene grass fields around me, heat of the Charmander behind me, morning sun overhead, and unpaved road below me. And there was me, running.

I tried running on the grass, to see if I'd go faster that way. Turns out I was slower on the grass. I guess that's why the road existed. So I ran on the road, as fast as I could. I didn't have time to think whether the tiny pebbles would damage my paws. If it did, the adrenaline would have eaten all the pain.

As the heat behind me subsided, I took a quick glance behind. The group of Scyther had nearly caught up to the Charmander, but I was far ahead. I was surprised that I, pokemon for less than a day, was faster than this Charmander who was presumably a pokemon for all her life. But the explanation was pretty simple. Four legs are faster than two. Almost made me want to have four legs back when I returned to the human world. But that time was nowhere in sight. So I put my head forward and continued running.

Even if the day wasn't windy, I could feel the air flowing over me as I ran. As I covered distance, more features of the landscape came into view. Had it been another day, I'd be appreciating the geological diversity and the beautiful colors. But it was not. I was running. And if I were paying more attention, and making use of the new Eevee ears I had, I surely could have heard the Charmander telling me to wait for up her. But I was not. I was running. In all honesty, even if I heard then, I probably wouldn't have listened. I'd keep running.

I continued running until I saw a green pulse of light come out from behind me. When I looked back, Flare had disappeared, and the Scyther seemed confused. Until one of them went after me, and the rest followed. So I returned to running.

There was more of the landscape to appreciate. In the span of I-don't-know-long, I've ran from field to field-with-visible-forest-in-the-distance to field-with-visible-mountain-in-the-distance to field-with-visible-pond-in-the-distance. Another glance back showed that the Scyther were closing in on me, and would catch up to me at this rate. So I ran through the grass toward the pond. Maybe they wouldn't be able to pursue me through water?

As I approached the pond's shore, I felt a blade cut through my backside. I didn't turn around to look. I kept running. More blades cut against my back, but I was at the water, took one last breath, and managed to fall in, tried and bleeding. Thank goodness none had intercepted me.

I felt the cool water wash over me, as I looked above the pond. The Scyther were waiting above. _Looks like I was right. They can't pursue me through here._ I looked below, but the boundaries might as well have been walls. I was trapped. _Stupid! Stupid me! I can't stay here forever either._ So I was faced with a choice. _Do I stay down here and drown, or stay up there and get murdered by the Scyther? Okay, what are my outs in this situation? I can stay down here and hope they get bored and leave before I drown._ I looked up. The Scyther were still there. _Doesn't look likely. Okay, I can go up and hope they don't murder me. Considering their number, there's no way I'd sneak away from them. The risk here is if I go up, I could be subjected to a fate worse than death. I guess that's a risk I'd have to take._ The water took a reddish tint from my blood, and with my breath running out, I swam back towards the surface.

That's when I felt the space around me distorting. The world around me was swirling. _Did I make my decision too late? I don't feel like I'm drowning.. But why am I seeing this?_ I doubled my effort to move upwards. But I wasn't making any progress. The swirling increased, and all was blue. Then all was darkness.

When I could see again, I was in a cave, and the lake and Scyther were gone. Not much time must have passed, as my fur was still drenched. I took a deep breath and shook the moisture out of my fur, and took another look around. The 'room' I was in was rectangular, with a large rectangular pillar inside of it. The 'paths' outward were all in perfect 90-degree angles, and formed corners with the cave walls.

 _Is this.. a mystery dungeon?_

 **[FRAGMENT END]**

* * *

 **MasN here. I'd like to apologize for the slow update and the short chapter. This marks the end of the first fragment of the story, whatever that's supposed to mean. (Future ones will be longer, well, at least in theory.) In any case, the upcoming week is an exam weeks, so I'll be busy. I should be back to regularly uploading chapters after then. I might upload a (short) bonus chapter during this time, but no promises.**


	5. Bonus Chapter: Power to Intervene

\- Bonus Chapter 1

 **Bonus Chapter: Power / / Intervene**

 _What makes a higher power? The concept of 'higher' is relative. Perhaps you could say that a higher power can do things that a lower power cannot, or to do things more easily what would require more investment of the lower powers to do themselves._

 _This asymmetry is made apparent when a higher power intervenes in lower affairs. What a lower power struggles to know or to do, the higher power could easily do - or just as easily render undone. Thus, a higher power's intervention could easily rob the lower power of agency, rob their actions of consequence, and rob their life of meaning._

 _But is this intervention ever justified? And is it possible to make meaning out of what that remains?_

* * *

 **Temporal Pinnacle, the past**

Dialga stood on the summit of his tower, as he's stood for the centuries since a certain two pokemon stopped the tower from collapsing. His metal plating reflected the bright daylight, though nobody was there to see it.

The temporal pokemon looked at the five time gears, and thought back to the past. "Ever since they've placed these here, I've been indebted to them. This tower has been my home since the beginning, and I thought I'd stay here for eternity. I've guarded time in this tower, but that's all I've done. It's because I've stayed here and blinded myself to the world that the Voice of Life had to call on so many humans for help. It's not right."

Dialga descended the tower, as he did every decade. But this time, he was not coming back.

 **Hall of Origin, the past**

"So you, too, have came here."

Dialga was surprised to hear the voice. "Palkia? Why are you here? Don't you like being in your own little dimension?"

"I do," Palkia replied, "but I can't stay there when it means that.."

"Hydreigon," Dialga said. Palkia nodded. They looked at each other for a while. They understood.

"I guess I don't enjoy keeping watch any more than you do," Palkia said, "but at least we'll have each other for company."

"I was wondering. First you, then me.. do you think any of the other uniques will join us here?" Dialga asked.

"I don't see a reason for them to. They don't have the role that we have. Are you thinking that all the uniques will be bleeding into here? For now, it's just you and me." And a sleeping Arceus.

 _Bleeding. That's an interesting word._ Dialga just nodded.

* * *

 **Hall of Origin, earlier this week**

Dialga was looking at a Charizard, bleeding to death in the grass.

"A death catching your attention," Palkia commented. "How unlike you. You've seen a million deaths while we're both here. Why this one?"

"Look," Dialga pointed, "there's one who survived. Flare. She might be who we need."

Palkia asked, "For what? We've been just watching for centuries. You know this. You are the temporal pokemon! Why would we need a Charmander?"

"As someone to first meet," Dialga replied, "I intend to bring a human."

"WHAT?" Palkia shouted.

"I thought I said it clearly. I intend to bring a human."

"But why?" asked Palkia. "Humans are brought over to save the world. The world isn't in danger now. Both of us came here to ensure that only as many humans that are necessary are brought over. I would not believe that now you've decided to bring one over solely for your entertainment."

"You don't see. Oh," said Dialga, "you can't see. But the world is in danger now. Bigger danger, in fact, than it ever has been."

"How?" asked Palkia.

"Remember Dark Matter? Drawing the world into the sun? That was a danger that everyone could see, once the time came. The danger I'm talking about concerns the timeline. It's the danger that can't be seen. One moment, everything is going fine. The next moment, you, I, and this entire world gets wiped from existence. No time to react. So this danger can't be dealt with reactively. It must be dealt with proactively."

"But what power could do that?" Palkia looked at Arceus. Who was still asleep.

"Don't look there. That power is one I can't explain."

"Then how do you know all this?" asked Palkia. "And how do you plan to stop it? And how would a human help?"

"I can't explain," replied Dialga, "not without realizing the danger. You have to trust me on this."

"You make me bleed," said Palkia, "but I trust you."

* * *

 **Hall of Origin, now**

"You heard that, right?" asked Palkia, "'Are the uniques turning into statues?'"

Dialga nodded.

"This human knows everything!"

"There's a reason I chose this human," Dialga replied.

Palkia was agitated. "Okay, if the human somehow knew the history of this world, then sure they might remember the Dark Matter incident. But calling us uniques!? That's the name only _we_ use. How could a human not only know the term, but use it instinctively? It's almost as if the human was one of us!"

"Calm down," said Dialga. "Remember the past? Don't you see the pattern?"

"What pattern?" asked Palkia. "I don't regulate time like you do. I don't remember like you do."

"Information is bleeding," said Dialga. "The very first human. He didn't even remember he was a human. Even when the word human was mentioned before his eyes, he didn't recognize it. And since he was the very first, nobody else recognized it either.

"Then you have the humans that didn't remember much. They just remembered that they were human. That they were special. But that was it. That Bulba on the scroll Flare is holding. You remember her, right? Rayquaza remembers her. She was one of them that remembered just that.

"And then some humans started to remember more. After that group of humans, we've gotten a new group. Each one remembered more of their human life than the last. Even if it would have been better if they hadn't remembered. But they did.

"Which brings us to 'Kani'. So if each human remembers more than the last, what happens when the next human remembers more than should be remembered? If they can't remember any more of what they know, they start remembering what they don't know. And that's why us being called the uniques came so naturally. Because that was a memory."

Palkia took a moment to consider his counterparts words. His thoughts are interrupted with Dialga suddenly yelling "The human is in that pond now! Save him! Open a mystery dungeon!"

Palkia obeyed. "But why? Isn't it our policy to not intervene? Start off by setting up a situation where we wouldn't need to?"

"Now is not then," Dialga said. "The last time a human entered this world, there were still a few mystery dungeons left. Every time a successful human came, they entered a mystery dungeon on their first day. Do you really think this is a coincidence?"

"There's still technically a few places which technically have 'mystery dungeons'," suggested Palkia. "Why not one of these?"

"I guess if we were someone else.. we'd have to," said Dialga, "but I happen to be next to you, and you are the one capable of making mystery dungeons. So as long as we're the ones bringing the human, we might as well make use of that, right?"

"That still leaves the problem of agency," mentioned Palkia. "Why is the human even here if we're just going to bail him out every time he doesn't act to our expectations?"

Dialga paused. "Agency. I didn't expect it would be _you_ , of all pe- pokemon to mention that. But it's a valid point. I've set up a mechanism, so that we wouldn't need to intervene again. It just hasn't been activated yet. If it doesn't get activated when we need to, then we may have a problem."

"I'd think that you'd have a plan when it comes to this, other than choosing by intuition."

"Don't all plans come to chance, to some degree? There's been failures. They don't go in the stories, and the normal pokemon might forget. But we don't."

"To chance? Like Hydreigon did?" Palkia said. Then stepped back, half-expecting to get hit with a Roar of Time.

But Dialga didn't attack. "To chance? You could say that. It depends on your perspective."

* * *

 _But I lied._


End file.
